Public gets final input on WEMO CAPA

Wednesday

Nov 21, 2012 at 12:30 PM

The Bureau of Land Management held the last of its four workshops on the El Paso Collaborative Access Planning Area at the Carriage Inn Saturday, coming full circle to its first meeting held in the same location.

By Jack Barnwelljbarnwell@ridgecrestca.com

The Bureau of Land Management held the last of its four workshops on the El Paso Collaborative Access Planning Area at the Carriage Inn Saturday, coming full circle to its first meeting held in the same location.A calmer group brought up several concerns during the meeting, a departure from a much more spirited first group the first time around.The entire process is part of a court order that invalidated a years-long West Mojave (WEMO) Management Plan. WEMO was meant to establish balance access to public land with preserving natural and cultural habitats.In 2003, the BLM established the El Paso CAPA to designate and establish motorized vehicle access routes with the cooperation of the general public, Kern County and Ridgecrest. However, in 2006 a group of environmental organizations led by the Center for Biodiversity challenged the 2003 WEMO process in court.Eight travel management areas will be established in this process. Ridgecrest and the El Paso Mountains are regulated to TMA 7. Ridgecrest Resources Branch Chief Robert Pawelek, Ridgecrest Field Manager Carl Symons and WEMO Assistant Program Manager Craig Beck all outlined the reason for the collaborative process. All three BLM staff presenters stressed the importance of participation."We want input on the process that will make it more beneficial for all parties," Symons told the crowd.Some members of the public clamored for the routes to be open while others questioned the basis behind red signs that marked closed routes."What I have to do is make sure if a route opening or closure is necessary," Symons said. "The BLM will comply with the court order."The red signs in question mark routes designated closed off sections put up by a third party group. A member of the public raised questions about what the process was behind them.Symons said that it set up a process to show which routes were designated closed. Some marked routes are disputed by the public."Now when they see the red signs, they get mad and come in with a voice for input," Symons said. "If no one gave it, we would be making decisions in a vacuum." Craig Beck outlined certain conditions the BLM needed to consider when designating a route, saying that feedback from the community was required.However some in the crowd disputed whether the El Paso and Ridgecrest regions should even be included in the WEMO lawsuit process because it did not go through the same process that invalidated the WEMO plan."The West Mojave plan clearly states that within a certain period of time the route designations for the El Paso and Ridgecrest areas will be done with a collaborative process with the county, city and stake holders," Schiller said after the meeting. "Therefore the region never went through a decision tree process and is not invalid."Schiller said if the BLM could furnish documentation showing routes were designated under a public process and record of decision, he would withdraw his complaint.Pawelek said the BLM was in the position that it had to listen to all sides of the fence."I think people have gotten a handle on the fact we are here to get their input and feedback so the roads they want to use are there for them to use," Pawelek said.Given the diversity of the groups represented in the whole process, from hikers and off-road vehicle users to nature conservationists, there might be different justifications."Conversely, there may be folks out there that don't want a particular road out there because of their own reason," Pawelek said. "This is a conversation, we're not dictating to the public. We're asking for feedback."An added component adding to the whole process is that the number of routes has increased over the last 30 years, and only five rangers to help patrol and help administer the 1.8 million acres under the Ridgecrest Field Office's purview."If you look at an aerial map of 30 years ago, you'll see fewer roads than there are today," Pawelek said.Pawelek said after all public comment deadline passed on Jan. 25, 2013, the implementing stage came next.The court mandated deadline for the BLM to submit everything falls on March 30, 2014, with the court's approval.Craig Beck, the BLM's assistant WEMO project manager, said while the meeting was better overall this time around, there was a lot of work ahead, especially for undetermined routes marked on BLM maps as dotted lines."They're the undesignated routes at this time, so they could could be open or closed," Beck said. "All those routes have to go through the review process, no matter what their status at this time."Beck said the whole process in determining which routes should be opened and closed would be a laborious effort."It's going to be very laborious because you're going to have the staff sitting in a room looking through GIS (geographical information system) stuff," Beck said. "And it will take some field trips to review some things we don't know about."However, confusion over the process still appeared to grasp both sides of the conversation during the last presentation."I think the BLM was better prepared to deal with the situation but it is fundamentally lacking in any collaboration," said Mark Algazy, a BLM volunteer and member of the Public Land's Use Roundtable.Algazy, who has a background in environmental law, said the BLM does not put stock in simply anyone who says what is or is not a route."The paths the BLM have already verified using their GIS are the ones most likely to get consideration from being reopened," Algazy said.Algazy said there was a lot of room for opportunity on all sides if people don't jump to conclusions."I don't think the BLM should be rushing to judgment and I don't think they are," he said. "Unfortunately I think it is the public that is rushing to judgment that there's a lot less opportunity here than there is."